The Colorado Supreme Court’s judicial ethics body determined last week that there is no problem if a municipal court wishes to hire a part-time judge who also works as a state prosecutor in the same judicial district.

The Colorado Judicial Ethics Advisory Board, which consists of judges, lawyers and a non-attorney, reasoned that the prosecutor would not be working in a court of a “comparable level” in their role as a municipal judge, so there would be no conflict.

“There is no case law or other legislative history interpreting the precise meaning of ‘comparable level,'” the board wrote in its July 1 opinion. “In this case, however, the distinction is clear. A municipal court, which is part of a city’s government, is plainly not of a ‘comparable level’ to a district or county court, both of which are part of the state’s government.”

The guidance came in response to an unidentified presiding judge of a municipal court who wondered if she could hire the prosecutor part-time. The Code of Judicial Conduct cautions that part-time judges cannot practice law in the court where they are a judge, in a court at a “comparable level” in the same district or in any court that hears appeals from the court where they are a judge.

The ethics panel noted the municipal court would not hear appeals of the prosecutor’s cases in state court. Further, the prosecutor would not be at risk of “preferential treatment” from their status as a judge because the district and county courts where the prosecutor practices are not comparable to the municipal court.

“The Code does not prevent a part-time municipal judge from practicing law in a different level court in the same judicial district as the one in which the judge serves,” the advisory board concluded.